''Spirit of Vancouver Island'' is an , part of the

BC Ferries British Columbia Ferry Services Inc., operating as BC Ferries (BCF), is a former provincial Crown corporation, now operating as an independently managed, publicly owned Canadian company. BC Ferries provides all major passenger and vehicle ferr ...

fleet. Along with , it is the largest in the BC Ferries fleet. The ship was completed in 1994 and serves the

Swartz Bay Swartz Bay, located on the north end of the Saanich Peninsula on Vancouver Island, is primarily known for being the location of one of BC Ferries' main terminals, the Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal. Swartz Bay was named after John Aaron Swart, purchas ...

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Tsawwassen Tsawwassen ( ) is a suburban, mostly residential community on a peninsula in the southwestern corner of the City of Delta in British Columbia, Canada. It provides the only road access to the American territory on the southern tip of the peninsul ...

route. In 2018, ''Spirit of Vancouver Island'' began a mid-life refit in Poland, where it was converted to a dual-fuel system to allow

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the vol ...

propulsion. The vessel returned to service in 2019.

Description

''Spirit of Vancouver Island'' is an S-class

roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...

ferry that is

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

and

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the ster ...

with a beam of . The vessel has a

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics * Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

of , an initial and . The gross tonnage later increased to 21,935 as of 2018. The vessel was initially powered by four

MAN A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...

6L40/54

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

s driving two

shafts ''Shafts'' was an English feminist magazine produced by Margaret Sibthorp from 1892 until 1899. Initially published weekly and priced at one penny, its themes included votes for women, women's education, and radical attitudes towards vivisection, ...

creating . ''Spirit of Vancouver Island'' has a maximum speed of . In 2018, the ferry began a mid-life refit that involved changing the propulsion system to a dual-fuel system comprising four

Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The core products of Wärtsilä include technolo ...

34DF dual-fuel engines which allows the ship to use either

marine diesel oil Marine Diesel Oil (MDO) is a type of fuel oil and is a blend of gasoil and heavy fuel oil, with more gasoil than intermediate fuel oil used in the maritime field. Marine Diesel Oil is also called "Distillate Marine Diesel". MDO is widely used by med ...

to power the ship. Further changes include navigation and propulsion equipment, steering and evacuation systems, lighting and air conditioning. Passenger areas were upgraded including the lounges, bathrooms and retail areas. The ferry has capacity for 2,100 passengers and crew and 358 automobiles. The ferry is equipped with lounges and cafes.

Service history

''Spirit of Vancouver Island'' was constructed in two parts in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. The ferry's forepart was built by Allied Shipbuilders of North Vancouver with the

yard number __NOTOC__ M ...

255. The rest of the ship was constructed by Integrated Ferry of

Esquimalt The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the west by Esquim ...

, British Columbia with the yard number 560. The two sections were joined and the vessel was completed in February 1994. Owned and operated by British Columbia Ferry Services Inc., ''Spirit of Vancouver'' was assigned to the

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route. On September 14, 2000, ''Spirit of Vancouver Island'' collided with the ''Star Ruby'' while attempting to overtake the vessel in a narrow channel. The collision occurred approximately from the Swartz Bay Terminal where the ferry had departed from. ''Spirit of Vancouver Island'' struck ''Star Ruby'' on its port side, causing the pleasure craft to flip over and eventually right itself, though swamped and heavily damaged. According to the accident report, the pleasure craft ignored all warning blasts from the approaching ferry and then made a sharp turn towards the ferry just prior to impact. Two passengers aboard ''Star Ruby'' later died as a result of their injuries sustained by the collision. On July 13, 2003, ''Spirit of Vancouver Island'' collided with the dock at Swartz Bay. Four passengers suffered minor injuries. The incident caused tens of thousands of dollars of damage to the dock and the ship. From 2005 to 2006, the S-class ferries underwent major refits. On October 9, 2009, a standby generator on ''Spirit of Vancouver Island'' caught fire on an early-morning sailing out of Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal. No one was injured in the incident; however, it did cause significant delays in the ferry system because of the already large volume of traffic for

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

weekend. On August 27, 2017, the ferry rescued six people off

Mayne Island Mayne Island is a island in the southern Gulf Islands chain of British Columbia. It is midway between the Lower Mainland of BC and Vancouver Island, and has a population of 995. Mount Parke in the south-central heart of the island is its highe ...

. In March 2018, ''Spirit of Vancouver Island'' was temporarily withdrawn from service after a serious mechanical issue with its portside propeller. On August 31, 2018, two workers were injured during an early morning fire drill when a ship's davit malfunctioned, causing the rescue boat they were in to flip, sending the workers into the water. Four sailings were cancelled as a result. On September 14, 2018, ''Spirit of Vancouver Island'' sailed for Remontowa Ship Repair Yard in Gdańsk, Poland, to undergo conversion to a dual-fuel system. With the refit work completed by January 2019, the ferry departed Poland on February 2 and returned to British Columbia on April 2. In April 2020, the vessel collided with the dock at Tsawwassen terminal. Two passengers and a crew member were injured in the collision. The Transportation Safety Board investigation found that the ship failed to respond to the crew's commands when they attempted to avoid the collision. In September 2021, ''Spirit of Vancouver Island'' had an issue with the starboard gearbox. Repair is ongoing and could last until the end of October.

References

External links

*
BC Ferries: ''Spirit of Vancouver Island''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spirit of Vancouver Island, MV S-class ferries 1994 ships Ships built in Esquimalt